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There’s a reason the Baltimore Ravens have beaten out their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, for back-to-back AFC North titles.

It’s because Ozzie Newsome has built his Super Bowl XLVII team with that primary purpose in mind.

Earlier this week, NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah – who used to work in the Ravens’ personnel department – said Newsome always asked two questions about potential new Ravens players: (1) Would he fit in in the locker room, and (2) would he help the Ravens beat the Steelers?

I asked Newsome, widely regarded as the NFL’s most astute general manager, to elaborate.

“You can’t win a division if you can’t beat Pittsburgh,” he said. “When I was at Alabama we had three teams we had to beat –Tennessee on the third Saturday in October, LSU and Auburn. And if we weren’t good enough to beat those teams, we probably weren’t going to have a good season.

“To be able to have players that can go into Heinz Field and play their best, you better have those kinds of players.”

What kind of players, in particular?

“You’d better have some competitors,” Newsome said. “And they’d better be physical. And they’d better want to play for 60 minutes.”

LEWIS 'NEVER, EVER TOOK BANNED SUBSTANCE

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was more emphatic Wednesday in his outright denial of a Sports Illustrated report, which claimed he used a banned substance to recover faster from the torn right tricep he suffered in October.

The so-called deer antler velvet spray contains the chemical IGF-1, which reportedly is considered a banned substance by the NFL. The spray is akin to human growth hormone.

Sports Illustrated reported that Lewis used the spray under the direction and guidance of a man named Mitch Ross.

“I am going to say it very clearly again,” Lewis said at a morning news conference. “I think it’s probably one of the most embarrassing things that we can do on this type of stage … (to) let cowards come in and do things like that, to try to disturb something.

“I never, ever took what he says I – whatever I was supposed to do. It’s just sad, once again, that someone can have this much attention on a stage this big where the dreams are really real.

“It’s foolish. It’s very foolish, and the guy has no credibility. He’s been sued four or five times over the same B.S. … He doesn’t have the privilege for me to speak about it ever again.”

Then Lewis was asked if he’s angry, and he spoke about it again.

“Me? Never angry … The word agitated would probably be better.”

His head coach also issued a stronger, unequivocal denial on Wednesday.

“Ray is honest, Ray is straight-forward,” John Harbaugh said. “He’s told us in the past, he’s never taken any of that stuff, ever. I believe Ray. I trust Ray completely. We have a relationship. I know this man, and I know what he’s all about. It’s too bad that this has to be something that gets so much play.”

LEWIS BATS CLEANUP FOR RAVENS

How big an impact did Ray Lewis’ return for the playoffs really have on the Baltimore Ravens?

Ask that of Ravens inside linebackers coach Don Martindale, and he shoots a question right back at you to make the crucial point about his star player.

“What sport did you play as a kid?”

Um, baseball more than anything else.

“OK, baseball,” Martindale said. “You and I are on a baseball team. Let’s say I’m hitting third and you’re hitting fifth. And our No. 4 hitter is coming back in the lineup.

“Is that going to give us all a little bit more confidence?”

Ahhh. Gotcha. You and I both will get better pitches to hit.

“Right,” Martindale said. “But Ray’s return was so much bigger than that. Not only is it his leadership, it raised the confidence of the entire defence – and the entire team.

“When Ray came back, we got better.”

Martindale said he realizes he’s biased, but he called Lewis the greatest player in NFL history.

“He loves this game. And I think when God made a football player, he made Ray Lewis. Some of the things you can’t even explain how great it is to be around him. He says so many good things when he’s talking to the team, you forget half of them. It’s like he rehearses them, but it’s just natural for him.

“With all the repetitions that he’s had, and with how much he studies, the game is in slow motion for him.”

Some websites that analyze game tape said Lewis’ play had dropped significantly before he tore his right tricep in October – even in tackling.

Was Ray Lewis a liability at times?

“No!” Martindale said. “And here’s the thing. Sit down and write down the names of current linebackers you’d want instead of him. That list isn’t going to be very long, when you factor in everything.

“He approaches every day like he’s a rookie. He takes notes continuously. He watches tape. He’ll text me at 11 o’clock at night saying he saw something, and did I see the same thing? And he’ll do it throughout the season – that’s the way he is.”

But if you ask one of the most physical defensive linemen in the NFL, Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, what the key is to win Sunday’s game, that’s it.

“We definitely think the most physical team is going to win this game,” said the 6-foot-4, 340-pound Ngata. “Usually we say that when we play Pittsburgh. But this is another team that wants to be physical all the time, that plays physical. That’s what their offensive line wants to be. It’s definitely going to be strength vs. strength.”

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Ravens GM Ozzie Newson defines Steeler-beating traits

There’s a reason the Baltimore Ravens have beaten out their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, for back-to-back AFC North titles.

It’s because Ozzie Newsome has built his Super Bowl XLVII team with that primary purpose in mind.

Earlier this week, NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah – who used to work in the Ravens’ personnel department – said Newsome always asked two questions about potential new Ravens players: (1) Would he fit in in the locker room, and (2) would he help the Ravens beat the Steelers?